Guard for toilet bowls



Nov. '18,1952

-H; HOFFMAN ET Al. 2,617,996

GUARD Foa TOILET BowLs Filed Feb. 5; 1951l Patented Nov. 18, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE Harry Hoffman and Louis Hoffman, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application February 5, 1951, Serial` No. 209,496

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to toilet bowl guards of the general character disclosed in our co-pending application, Serial No. 75,402, now Pat. No. 2,598,543, dated May 27, 1952, and has to do with an improvement in one of the embodiments of the invention disclosed in the aforesaid application.

More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide a, guard which will positively resist displacement in or from the toilet bowl by any normal force imposed upon the guard or any element thereof, but which may be readily inserted in or removed from the said bowl. .Another object of the invention is to provide a retaining device for guards of the stated type which will utilize the bead at the upper edge of the conventional toilet bowl which contains the peripheral water flow channel, and also the water discharge port or ports at the under side of said bead, to effect a substantially positive interlock ofthe retaining elements with the bowl structure.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the attached drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a screen made in accordance with the invention, and

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a bowl showing the screen installed. Y

vWith reference to the drawings, the guard comprises the typical wire or other mesh screen I contoured to fit Within the upper portion of the bowl approximately at the normal level of the Water in the latter, said screen comprising a peripheral ring, which may also be made of wire or other suitable material, and to which are pivotally attached arms 3 and 4. In the present instance, these arms are locatedv at diametrically opposite sides of the screen and function as ameans for retaining the screen against forces tending to displace it from the normal position in the bowl. Such forces comprise those which may be exerted from above tending to displace the screen from its normal position; and, more particularly, those forces exerted on the under side of the screen by the 'action of the water owing in the bowl which tend to elevate the screen bodily from the normal position.

In the present instance, the arms 3 and 4, which are identical in form but which face in opposite directions, are composed of resilient wire or other suitable resilient material shaped to the form i illustrated so as to provide hook like formations, 5 and E respectively, at the outer free ends of the arms. The wire or other resilient material of the arms is turned loosely around the rim 2 in the present instance so as to form in effect a hinged v connection between the arms and the screen about which the arms may move in a vertical plane approximately normal to the plane of the screen. Each of the arms is provided with a sheet metal plate, 'I and 8 respectively, having tongues 9 at the opposite sides thereof which are hooked around the opposite side members of the arms so as to secure the plates 'I and 8 to the latter; and each of the plates has a projecting pin, I I and I 2`respectively, which extends up. Wardly and outwardly at the base of vthe adjacent hook 5 or 6 as the case may be.

The arms are dimensioned and relatively pro--w portioned, and the pins II and I2 are so arranged. that when the screen I is in normal position Within the bowl I3 the arms 3 and 4 may assume the positions in which they are shown in Fig. 2 with the hooks 5 and 6 sprung over the bead I4 at the upper peripheral edge of the bowl and with the pins II and I2 projecting upwardly into the port I1 at the underside of the beads through which water is discharged from the channel I8 into the interior of the bead during the ushing operation.

With this construction the hooked ends of the arms are clamped in positive manner to the bowl and will effectively resist normal forces applied in any direction, either to the screen or to the arms themselves, tending to displace the arms from their normal interlocking relation with the bowl. The outer ends and the confronting backs of the hooks, engage the outer and inner side faces of the bead I4, respectively; and the top and bottom portions of hooks respectively engage the top of the bead and the inner under cut bottom of the bead at the inside of the bowl. This undercut bottom of the bead is frequently slanted or curved in such manner that it affords an unstable abutment for the hook, and the pins II and IZ, by reason of their interengagement with the port I'I, positively preclude inadvertent displacement of the hooks from under the bead` At the same time the outer ends of the hooks 5 and 6 of the arms may readily be sprung outwardly and upwardly over the bead in a manner permitting release of the hooks from the bead when it may be desired to remove the screen from the bowl;

We claim:

A guard for toiletv bowls comprising a screen shaped at its perimeter to conform with the contour of the interior of the bowl in a transverse plane intersecting the bowl in the area of relatively greater width near the vertical mid-section thereof, said screen being thereby adapted while occupying a readily accessible position Within the REFERENCES CITED bowl to exclude foreign bodies from the drain paS- The following references are of record in the sages, hold-down struts attached respectively to me of this patent;

opposite sides of the screen and each having a hooked extremity shaped for interlocking en- 5 UNITED STATES PATIENTS gagement over the rim portion of the bowl and Number Name Date under an inner overhung portion of said rim por- 1,166,298 Wospil Dec. 28, 1915 tion, and a projecting nger on that part of each 1,927,192 Werner Sept. 19, 1933 of the arms; which underlies the said overhung 2,011,732 Saeks Aug: 20, 1935 portion oftherim arranged for engagement in an 10 opening at the underside of said overhung rim FOREIGN PATENTS portion. Number Country Date HARRY 13,045 Great Britain of 1909 LOUIS HOFFMAN. 485,555 Great Britain May 19, 1938 

